WOWKANECH: Extend federal unemployment benefits

12:09 AM,
Jan. 18, 2014

Wowkanech

Written by

Charles Wowkanech

It hasn't been a happy new year so far for more than 90,000 out-of-work New Jerseyans and their families.

Having already exhausted their 26 weeks of state unemployment insurance, they relied on extended emergency federal unemployment benefits to make ends meet. Those benefits expired at the end of December, meaning they are now in their third week of having no means to provide for their families, and no way to even put gas in the car to go out looking for work. Their real hope lies in Congress to provide an extension of the emergency program - a hope that dimmed with Tuesday's failure in the Senate ...